Providence's Best Roamntic Scenes Find out what our editors consider Providence's Best

BEST HYPOALLERGENIC BOUQUETS

The poor dear. You’d like to thrust a bunch of flowers under your sweetie’s nose, but to someone with allergies, breathtaking beauty means something else entirely. One person’s floral fragrance is another’s noxious cloud of sneeze fodder, as microscopic pollen swarms like nanobot bees. Short of treating your loved one to a Paris walk through the Jardin des Tuilleries with her respirator, your best recourse might be a stroll into the dining room of Luigi’s. The restaurant’s wallpaper contains more big, florid flowers than Pasadena streets the day after a Rose Bowl Parade. White-glass wall lamps are not only decorated with petals but wreaths of artificial flowers also surround them. Prominent paintings on the walls are, yup, floral still lifes. Oh — don’t forget to ask your server to remove the vase of real flowers on your table. You don’t want your thank you to sound more like "Ah-choo!" 1357 Hartford Avenue, Johnston, (401) 861-3850.

BEST CHEAP DATE

A $1.99 admission all the time is a solid selling point for the Patriot Cinema in East Providence. Amidst the strip mall suburbia wasteland is a theater that doesn’t look like much, but for $2 who gives a shit — paying 10 bucks to see a movie is borderline insanity. And if you feel embarrassed about taking a date to a $2 show, get over it. Use the leftover riches to get a generous serving of the house’s surprisingly good popcorn and a fat bag of Sour Patch kids and chase it down with a blue-raspberry slushie — and you’re still under $15. Weeknights are the way to go as the Patriot has long been the weekend babysitter for all of East Providence, but it’s still not half as bad as the hoodlums hanging at the multiplex in Providence Place Mall. 60 Newport Avenue, East Providence, (401) 438-1100.

BEST WAY TO PERK INTEREST

Ever since the Dance of the Seven Veils developed from its origins as the Dance of the One Humongous Veil, modesty has been a double-edged sword. Although the incident happened a summer ago, the laughter still echoes and the sight gag remains: a Middletown town official — the building inspector, of all random authorities — took it upon himself to ban mermaid nipples on the sign at Gertrude’s Galley. Instantly, the innocent and overlooked became recontextualized and eroticized. The restaurant’s first response was to place a strip of wood across the offending appurtenances, with passersby able to lift it up by pulling a string. Then they went to a black strip of electrical tape. By now it may be pasties — maybe two smiley faces or discarded Bush-Cheney buttons. Geez, do bureaucrats need to get a life. 146 Aquidneck Avenue, Middletown, (401) 846-8411.

BEST CURIOUSLY NON-RELIGIOUS RELIGIOUS DATE

When the new romantic interest in our life suggested an outing last December to La Salette Shrine, we weren’t exactly sure what to think. The possibility that she might be a religious zealot, however, did briefly occur to us. On a blisteringly cold night, we nonetheless made the trip to the site acquired by La Salette missionaries, a group with French roots, in 1942. Truth to be told, our sweet was attracted by the shrine’s annual Christmas Festival of Lights, a display that attracts more than 200,000 visitors with a dazzling array that lights up the night. Although the spectacle is certainly a religious experience for most of the pilgrims, it can also be appreciated it in a quasi-cultural, almost non-ecumenical kind of way, a seasonal celebration of life in winter. It was with relief that we learned that the gal about to become our significant other, although of a different faith, was essentially seeing things the same way. 947 Park Street (Route 118), Attleboro, Massachusetts, (508) 222-5410.

BEST TAKE-HOME MEAL FOR YOUR SWEETIE

That old saying about the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach could apply even more for a woman’s heart when she doesn’t feel like cooking. So why not pick up a heat-and-eat meal from Prima Pasta that could compete with any upscale Italian spot? You have fabulous choices of ravioli — spinach pasta with feta and olives; herb pasta with Gorgonzola and spinach; and garlic-and-parsley pasta with chicken and broccoli are among 17 different kinds. The pastas come in 10 varieties, such as sweet red pepper, lemon basil, scallion parmesan, or squid ink. They can be cut into four different widths, from wide pappardelle to skinny angel hair, and they cook in minutes. Grab a pint of sauce (red, white or pink), and you’re good to go. Prima also makes lasagnas to take home; they will bake one in your own pan, if you drop it off. 796 Aquidneck Avenue, Middletown, (401) 845-2111; also available at Clement’s Market in Portsmouth, Belmont’s in Wakefield, and McQuade’s in Jamestown.

BEST USE OF A NERVOUSLY TWITCHING FOOT

Put it to use. Everyone knows that gals like romance from guys who can dance. Hopping up and down to trance music doesn’t count. No, you have to costume up in grown-up clothes (white tie and tails optional) so she can show off her finery. One occasion to prance to a big band is with the Friends of Ballroom Dancing. The group has been in action since 1987 in more than one way — upwards of 40 marriages have resulted from FOBD-sponsored slow dancing, they claim. There are singles tables, and dinner precedes dancing, so there’s plenty of time to chat. The membership averages around the age of the music, but young whippersnappers are welcome to join in and cut a rug. (Not literally. It’s an expression. Ask someone with gray hair to explain.) 253 East Main Road, Portsmouth, (401) 847-2980; www.OnAquidneck.com/fobd.

BEST WALK (AND/OR TALK) IN THE WOODS

Time was when these particular 841 acres came under intense public scrutiny, as United Nuclear Corporation struggled to clean up soil and groundwater contamination from their long-lived nuclear scrap-recovery plant. Now under the jurisdiction of the Nature Conservancy, the Francis C. Carter Memorial Preserve was also once considered for development as a golf resort. Fortunately for the residents of South County — and other nature lovers who find their way to the preserve — this open space has returned to a wilder state. Oaks and pines line the paths, with wetlands and grasslands visible beyond them. A wide range of animal life can be heard and seen at the Carter Preserve, including wild gobblers and grasshopper sparrows, white-tailed deer, and damselflies. But the very best animal life to experience is scuffing through fragrant pine straw with that special someone and feeling your petty disagreements evaporate as you reach for the other person’s hand. Off Old Mill Road, Charlestown, (401) 331-7100.

BEST PLACE TO GET HER A BEVY OF BLOOMS

In the same spirit and sense of economy that allows a person to be a yachtsman without owning a yacht — instead, you have a friend or two with a yacht — your sweetheart will know that beauty, refinement, and elegance can be hers if she keeps hanging with you, all for the price of two tickets to the Newport Flower Show. Come late June, the Preservation Society of Newport County sponsors two days of workshops, lectures, and horticultural competitions, in addition to a tour of Rosecliff and permission to wander about its manicured, harbor-view acres. The mansion is lovely enough at other times, but the show is when its rooms are filled with fragrances. Flowers bedeck every appropriate surface, with the outdoor terrace as abloom as the marketplace that is set up outdoors. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 day of show. For advance tickets, call (401) 847-1000, ext. 102; newportflowershow.org.

BEST SUBSTITUTE FOR A SCARY MOVIE

It’s good that the place carries espionage thrillers too, since it’s near the airport. Turn up your trench coat collar, tug down that fedora brim, and look like you’ve scurried off a plane when you step into Murder By the Book, which specializes in literary mayhem. You have your police procedurals, your detective fiction, your spy novels, your gay or lesbian noir, your hard-to-find quirky British imports with crime-solvers who never leave the hothouse company of their orchids. The place has been in business for more than two decades and knows how to stay that way in the face of Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com: you can search its online site for that Peter Godfrey locked-room classic you’ve been looking for. So the next dark and stormy night, let her cuddle up with you and a good mystery. Hours by appointment at 1645 Warwick Avenue, Warwick, (401) 739-7224; www.abebooks.com/home/kbbooks, kbbooks1@cox.net.

BEST RECOURSE FOR PHENYLALANINE DEPENDENCE

You think you’re successfully hiding your problem, but all your friends know. Haven’t you noticed your partner look away every morning when you reach for that third bowl of Cocoa Puffs? You have a dependence and you have to do something about it. Well, get over to Newport Chocolates and start cramming your face. They won’t stare; they’re used to out-of-towners slipping in where they won’t be noticed. You’ve got your truffles and cordials and nonpareils, of course, but this is a place that understands you, that goes the extra step and provides chocolate-covered pretzels ($4.95 for a half-pound bag). (Rumor has it that chocolate-covered multi-vitamins are in the works, but they won’t confirm this.) Among more popular offerings are almond bark and turtles — several variations of the latter, including one with Rice Krispies instead of nuts. A la carte, $19.95 per pound. 82 William Street, Newport, (401) 841-8975.

BEST IDEA FOR TURNING UP THE HEAT

Warm that oven and slide in a wood-fired pizza from the Village Hearth Artisan Bakery while you make the salad. Or, since they only make pizza on Sundays (4:30 to 6 p.m.), how about some warm Portuguese sweet rolls or sticky buns? An even better plan is to grab your mate and drive to Jamestown, pick up some fresh-ground brew and buttery croissants, and park at Beavertail to take in the breakers. For more substantial fare, there are hearty sandwiches and wraps. But to get you through the winter, stock up on the breads made from whole grains ground in a stone mill at the bakery. Daily choices range from baguettes and focaccia to Kalamata olive. Each day there’s a special, with Saturdays featuring cinnamon raisin and Sundays highlighting raisin-pecan or roasted potato with garlic. Omar Khayyam knew a good thing when he praised "a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou . . ." and so should you. 2 Watson Avenue (behind Cumberland Farms), Jamestown, (401) 423-9282.

BEST IDEA FOR TURNING DOWN THE HEAT

Almost nothing can make you and your better half chill out like a bowl of ice cream. And if it’s the lower-fat gelato, you can almost feel virtuous while indulging. At Cool Scoop, there are even non-dairy and fruit-juice-based choices. With imported Italian equipment and training from a Bolognese gelato maker, owner John Rao set out last spring to transform Rhode Islanders’ enthusiasm for ice cream into a passion for gelato. Certainly options like chocolate hazelnut, crème caramel, praline rocher, crema della nonna (a custard with bits of chocolate and amaretti cookies), donatello (white chocolate with almonds and coconut), and coffee Oreo make his job easier (45 flavors in all, 24 displayed at a time). But so do the fresh-tasting fruit variations, such as wild cherry, cantaloupe, peach, blueberry, raspberry, banana, pineapple, or pink grapefruit. Score points with your honey by bringing home a gelato birthday cake — especially the pineapple/pink grapefruit one. 2005 East Main Road, Portsmouth, (401) 683-4949.

BEST REVERENCE FOR CHOCOLATE

Not only can you unabashedly have a chocolate sandwich for lunch at Café Choklad (a S’More’s panini, to be exact), but you can also take home a box of chocolate nuns. That’s right, nuns. They come in dark, milk, or white chocolate; it’s anyone’s guess whether you begin nibbling at feet or wimple. The nuns are part of a large selection of chocolate candies, handmade for owners Marie and Jens Retlev and named after Jens’s grandmother, Elsa Agell. If the chocolates lure you into this new café, the salads, sandwiches, and lattes will entice you to linger. The Café Choklad "classic" has dried cranberries and mandarin oranges among the baby greens. The "caponata de la plata" features figs and cocoa tucked into the eggplant relish and melted parmesan. The hot chocolate is steamed milk with shaved chocolate atop the whipped cream. And the dark chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting is a meal in itself! 2 Thomas Street, Providence, (401) 383-4764; www.cafechoklad.com.